GAME REPORT

Goran Martinic had a hot hand for BC Mures, nailing all five of his three-point attempts

BC Mures have tasted success upon their first step onto the European basketball stage, picking up an 83-79 road win at Tsmoki Minsk in Tuesday EuroChallenge action.

In a hotly contested encounter which produced 11 lead changes and eight tied scores, BC Mures had to wait until the last 51 seconds to make their decisive run, outscoring their hosts 5-1 in the final moments.

Aleksandar Mladenovic was responsible for breaking a 78-78 stalemate with a jump shot, before the next three of his team's points came forth at the charity stripe.

Mladenovic ended with 11 points, but the real talking point for the Romanian club was the performance of Goran Martinic.

The point guard compiled 31 points, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer to have Mures in front 44-42 at the half, then the two free-throws to clinch the game after Pavel Ulyanko gave up an offensive foul when he tried to tie the game with nine seconds left.

Despite having the muscle under the baskets, where they out-rebounded their guests 44-25, Tsmoki Minsk will be left ruing their transitional defence, offering up 20 fast-break points and 25 points from turnovers.

American center Keith Benson Jr had the best offensive output for the hosts, completing the evening with 17 points.

COACH QUOTES

BC Mures Head Coach Srecko Seculovic:"We're happy to steal the win. We knew that that days ago Tsmoki played a very good game against CSKA and lost by only four points. So maybe they underestimated us a bit. But we are a very good team and even though we lacked one of our best players because of injury, we managed to win by two points.

Mures Player Vaidotas Peciukas:"At the very beginning, we were a bit pressed by the size of the arena and the number of people in the stands. But quarter after quarter we got back in the rhythm and found the right ways to the basket."

Tsmoki-Minsk Head Coach Donaldas Kayris:"We're very disappointed with the result. We gave our best and fought hard. Got the advantage on the boards and controlled tempo. But we made 21 turnovers that Mures turned into 25 points. So it's impossible to get the win with such a percentage of mistakes."

Tsmoki-Minsk Player Demonte Harper:"It can not be described in words how much this loss hurts. We played a very good game against CSKA and hoped to continue the run. Unfortunately, we made a lot of mistakes and committed turnovers. Mures punished us for that."